Polls are open in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the country's president is facing a former rebel leader in a run-off vote that marks the transition to democratic rule in the central African nation torn by decades of dictatorship and war.
Police killed two rioters in poll violence after supporters of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba destroyed a polling station after alleging a ballot box had been stuffed with votes for his opponent, the incumbent president, Joseph Kabila, according to the governor of the northerly Equateur province, Yves Mobando.
Fighting between the forces loyal to the two candidates two months ago marred the eager patriotism that for many surrounded the elections. Three days of gunbattles erupted in the capital of Kinshasa after the July 30 first round vote, killing two dozen people.
Both President Joseph Kabila and ex-rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba have pledged to accept the results of the runoff, but many were skeptical and afraid.
"If this doesn't change Congo's future for the better, I don't know what will," said Santos Kambale, a 42-year-old civil servant voting in the eastern town of Goma. "Our people are still suffering because of insecurity. We live in fear. We hope this vote will make our lives better."
Secured by the largest UN mission in the world, the vote is meant to be the final step of four-year transition to democratic rule that began with the end of a 1998-2002 war. It marks the first time Congo's citizens chose a leader through the ballot box in 40 years.
"So far we've had only tyranny and dictatorship," said Theoneste Mpatse-Mugabo, a 25-year-old student also voting in Goma. "From now on, leaders will rule for the people, not just possess power forever."
Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko ruled Congo for 32 years, plundering the country's mineral wealth, personally pocketing billions and doing little to develop the giant nation.
Rwandan-backed rebels led by Laurent Kabila, father of the current president, ousted Mobutu in 1997. But the elder Kabila fell out with Rwanda and faced a new rebellion a year later that split his country into rival fiefdoms and drew in the armies of half a dozen African nations.
Laurent Kabila was assassinated by a bodyguard in 2001, and his son inherited power. The younger Kabila negotiated an end to the war in 2002, and rebel leaders took up top positions in a transitional government.
Congo emerged from the conflict drained and devastated, struggling to establish a unified army and a government capable of answering to its 58 million people. The country's sheer size has been an obstacle: Kinshasa is thousands of miles from the lawless east, where rebels and militiamen accused of raping and pillaging residents collect their own taxes.
With security a major concern, neither candidate made many public appearances during the two-week campaign period that ended Friday. Bemba canceled a rally in the capital Friday, citing security concerns.